


please understand that it's still strange and frightening

by commandercosmo



Category: The Producers (2005)
Genre: M/M, in case that was unclear, nerdos kissing and being cute boyfriends, this is a high school au btw
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-14
Updated: 2014-08-14
Packaged: 2018-02-13 03:23:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,494
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2135211
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/commandercosmo/pseuds/commandercosmo
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Four times that Max got a little bit too close to Leo, and the one time that he wasn't quite close enough.</p>
            </blockquote>





	please understand that it's still strange and frightening

i. The first time it happens, Max isn't surprised. He is moving rather fast, at least by Leo's standards. The two of them are walking home to Leo's house after a study date at the library which ran a little longer than planned, and Max had been thinking of making a move the entire time.

"Well," Leo says, smiling and turning to his boyfriend. (Can you really call someone a boyfriend after one date?) "This is me." He motions to his home, not knowing what else to do with his hands.

Max nods, and before his partner turns to climb the stairs, he grabs Leo's arm and takes his hands. "I had a good time tonight, Leo," Max says, stepping closer. "I mean, sure, it was just studying, but you know what I mean." He's not lying. He genuinely enjoys spending time with Leo, especially when the kid lets his guard down, which he has been doing more often lately with Max.

Leo swallows visibly. "I, uh, I had a good time, too, Max. A great time. The best time I've had in a while, actually. I don't really get out all that much and I--"

"Leo," Max cut him off, patting Leo's hands and smiling at him. Max leans closer to his companion, still holding his hands. Leo's eyebrows raise a little, but it's not a no, so Max cautiously advances even more, watching Leo's face for any sign of reluctance.

Leo leans away slightly. "M-Max," he mumbles, his eyes downwards. Max's eyes open -- he hadn't notice he'd cosed them -- and he looks at Leo expectantly. "You're, ah, you're a little too close," Leo manages, and Max nods and steps backwards, still holding his hands. Without missing a beat, Max brings Leo's hands to his lips, kissing each one of them before letting them go.

"I'll see you tomorrow at school, Leo. Sweet dreams." Max gives his mildly-guilty looking companion a reassuring smile before turning and continuing to walk towards his own home.

ii. The second time, it's an accident. Max swears upon it. He truly doesn't mean to trip over the plush rug in Leo's living room, and he definitely doesn't mean to topple over, taking the kid with him.

"Shit," Max curses, "God, I'm so sorry! Are you all right, kid? Leo?" He begins to worry slightly when Leo doesn't answer. Leo's eyes are trained upwards, his mouth slightly open, a frightened expression on his face.

Max knows what to do-- he's done this one or two times before. He kneels next to Leo, close to his face, trying to look as reassuring as possible. "Leo, I'm sorry. It was an accident. I didn't mean to scare you." Leo's eyelids begin to flutter, and Max rubs comforting circles on his chest. "Leo, talk to me."

Finally, Leo's eyes meet Max's, and they widen slightly. His mouth opens and a squeak comes out. He furrows his brow and swallows before managing to say, "Too close."

"Too close," Max repeats, his eyebrows raising. "Too close. Oh! Too close!" Realizing his mistake, Max immediately takes his hand off of Leo and he straightens his back, making sure to not touch Leo at any point on his body.

Leo, however, reaches out, his hand searching until it finds Max's. Leo sits up, rubbing the back of his head with his free hand, smiling shyly. "You surprised me," he confesses, "that's all. It's not that I don't like you being close to me. It's just that sometimes I need to be... not close to you." He sees Max's face drop, just a little, but it's enough to make Leo panic more. "No, not like that! It's not you, it's just, I'm not used to being around people as... as affectionate as you are. I'm sorry! It's me, I'm just being silly," Leo babbles, looking everywhere but Max.

Max smiles at his boyfriend's troubled face. He kisses the hand in his own, effectively quieting Leo down. "It's fine," Max says, "I understand, Leo. Don't worry about it." He gets up, hoisting Leo along with him by the hand he's still holding. "Now, how about that takeout? You want Chinese or pizza?"

iii. The third time, they had been together for about a month. Leo had gotten better about being close to Max, and Max had begun to realize when Leo needed his space.

The two of them had decided to see a movie together, mostly because Leo wanted to see the latest Disney film. Max was excited to see it as well, of course, but he was mostly just happy to see Leo practically bouncing with excitement over the prospect of the newest Disney film.

After the two of them are settled in their perfect seats with snacks and refreshments (Max had paid for the snacks, Leo for the tickets), the theatre began to fill up. Before long, the movie is starting, and Leo is entirely enraptured by the scenes unfolding before him.

Max had to admit to watching Leo more than the movie itself. He couldn't help himself -- Leo's expressions were too cute. Leo's body leaned instinctively towards Max's as there was a stranger on the other side of him, and Leo felt more comfortable if he was closer to his boyfriend. Max realizes this and snakes his arm around Leo's back, leaning so close to the other man that they were nearly sharing the same air.

Leo tenses, an almost imperceptible straightening of his back, and he turns to face Max. "You're a little bit..."

"Too close," Max finishes Leo's sentence for him, smiling understandingly and taking his arm away from his companion. Instead, he takes Leo's hand in his own and threads their fingers together. Leo smiles at him appreciatively, and he strokes the hand in his with his thumb.

Max takes one more glance at Leo before turning his attention back to the film. Leo watches Max for a few more moments before doing the same.

iv. Later that same night, Max is giving Leo a ride home. The radio is on a low volume, and the two of them are talking about the movie they had just seen. Max lets Leo recount all of his favourite parts of the movie, exuberant hand gestures aplenty.

Max cracks a few jokes, loving the way that Leo's laughter fills the car. Before long, they arrive in front of the Bloom family household, and Max parks his car next to the curb.

Leo is still laughing at the last joke Max made, trying to muffle his giggles in the sleeve of his sweater. Max turns to him, admiring the way that Leo looks in this moment; illuminated only by the dashboard of Max's car and the light of a nearby street lamp. Max must be looking at Leo with dewy eyes, because as soon as he looks at Max, his chuckles die down until only a small smile remains.

Max has been slowly drawing nearer to Leo, making his intentions clear so that Leo had the chance to pull away. His eyes flick from Leo's lips to his eyes and back to his lips, and he realizes that Leo is also moving closer to him. Max stops about an inch from Leo's lips, meeting his eyes to see 'is this okay? do you want this? can I kiss you?'

Leo's eyes have been watching Max's lips, and when they stop, he looks up to meet expectant eyes. He takes in a sharp intake of breath, stuttering a moment before finally murmuring, "You're a little too close, Max."

Max moves away immediately and takes one of Leo's hands so that he can kiss that instead. "I had a wonderful time tonight, Leo," he says, smiling. "I'll see you tomorrow night? We've got a Chem test on Wednesday, so we should probably actually study this time instead of watching films until two in the morning."

Leo smiles, letting out a breath he had been holding in. He'd been scared that Max would have gotten angry at him for turning him down yet again. It's not that he didn't want to kiss Max; no, he wanted that very, very much. It was just that he had never really kissed anyone before, and he didn't want Max to make fun of him for not having the best of techniques. He was, however, starting to re-think his reasoning.

"That sounds good, Max," Leo replies to the question, absent-mindedly opening the car door even with no intention of leaving the vehicle. "I'll see you tomorrow night."

Max nods and turns to face frontwards again, getting ready to turn his car back on. "I'll see you tomorrow, Leo."

"Max?" Max turns, his eyebrows raising. He's about to ask "what is it?" when suddenly his face is being cradled by careful hands and his lips are being captured by Leo's soft, hesitant lips.

It's a brief kiss, more of a peck, and Leo pulls away, wide-eyed. He swallows, not knowing what to say, or if there was even anything to say. Instead of filling the silence, Max leans forwards and kisses Leo again. It's mildly awkward, what with Leo having had no former experience and Max having to stretch over the center console, but it's still sweet and it gives the two of them butterflies for the rest of the night.

When they finally part, Leo's breathing is irregular, and Max's heart is beating faster than a hummingbird's wings. "I should, uh," Leo manages, "I should probably go."

Neither of them move.

"I'm looking forward to seeing you tomorrow," Max finally says, and Leo smiles wider than he probably ever has. Max returns the expression, giving Leo one final kiss before Leo finally goes inside. He doesn't open the door before almost tripping up a few steps and looking back several times, but when he finally closes the door, Leo wraps his arms around himself and smiles, blushing.

"Leo," his father says to him, showing up from behind the kitchen door. "Are you okay? You look... happy." His concern seems genuine, and even if it wasn't, Leo wouldn't have taken any notice. He was far too ecstatic to care about anything but the memory of the feeling of Max's lips on his.

Leo just assures his father that he's fine and retreats to his bedroom. He then promptly spends most of his night texting Max until he falls asleep.

\+ i. They're on Max's bed, watching some sort of science fiction trash on television, completely ignoring their homework and study plans. It's late, about two in the morning, and Leo is beginning to doze off. Max is talking with him through his sleep-induced intoxication.

Leo flops down onto his back, stretching his arms and legs out, pushing most of the papers that had been on the bed onto the ground. He smiles, rolling onto his side, facing Max. Max lays down next to Leo, a safe distance away, and listens to Leo's close-to-drunken murmuring.

"I'm the king of the world," Leo says, reaching his arms out as far as they'll go, as though he is showing exactly how big he is.

"Have a little humility," Max grins, winding his boyfriend up. Leo shakes his head as best as he can, frowning.

"That word is no longer in my vocablu-- my vocabrular-- I don't know that word, not anymore," he finishes, holding in a yawn. "This is a Leo Bloom World and you're just living in it."

"Is that right?" Max asks, turning off the television so that he can listen to Leo more intently. 

"Yes," Leo says, wiggling closer to Max and yawning again. "Don't hate me because I'm beautiful. Hate me because I'm Zeus, Jupiter and Oprah combined!"

"All right, Leo, don't get too cocky, now," Max says, trying to hold into laughter. "It's not as though you can have people killed."

"Oh but I could! I could, Max! I could have people killed! All because it would amuse me. You can't stop me, Max!" Leo continues, his hand motions as extravagant as they can possibly be while he's half-asleep and laying down. "I could take over the world without you! I am the milky way! I am the center of the universe!"

"All right, Leo, I know, we all know--"

"Even the moon fears me!"

By this time, Max is full-on giggling. "I know, darling, I know, Leo, you're amazing. You're the centre of the universe. The ruler of the galaxies. You leave entire empires shaking in their boots."

"But you don't, you don't fear me, do you, Max?" Leo says suddenly, sleepily, grabbing Max's arm and holding it tightly. "Do you?"

Max frowns at Leo's sudden concern. "Isn't that what you wanted? For me to fear you? Aren't you the Milky Way?"

"Yes, yes, of course I am! But I would never want you to fear me, Max, never you. I love you!" Leo says, snuggling into Max's shoulder, seemingly unaware of what he said.

Max almost freezes, and he would have, if Leo hadn't been cuddling into his arm so sweetly. "I love you too, little buddy. You're cute too be frightening. Sorry to break it to you." Max kisses his hair, not knowing how much touching would be too much at this point in their relationship.

"M'not cute. I'm the milky way," Leo mumbles before finally falling into a long-desired sleep. Max is left not knowing what to do with his hands, so he does his best to fall asleep flat on his back when he would generally favour one side or his stomach. When this plan doesn't work, he decides to look down at his sleeping companion, his breath coming evenly and deeply. Somehow, Leo seems to look even more innocent and childish when he's sleeping, and Max finds it extremely endearing. He has yet to figure out, however, just how close is "too close" at this point.

After maybe thirty minutes of pondering, Leo stirs. Max is ready to pull away if need be, and he almost thinks it's necessary when Leo lets out a tired and confused "Max?"

"Yes, Leo?" Max replies, looking into beautiful, sleepy brown eyes. Max had always loved Leo's eyes. He should probably let Leo know about that someday. "Could you play with my hair?" Leo mumbles, only half-coherent at this point. Max is stunned, but obliges anyway, and he's delighted to hear the happy humming sounds that come from Leo while his fingers card through the slightly-too-long brown hair presented to him. Max cautiously pulls Leo closer with one arm, letting the kid's head rest on his chest. Leo didn't seem to mind, saying one last quiet and warm "Goodnight, Max,"before falling asleep.

"Goodnight, Leo," Max chuckles, planting a kiss on Leo's forehead before finally allowing his head to hit his pillow and for his eyes to slide shut. It's the best sleep that either of them had had in years.

**Author's Note:**

> The title comes from the song Suddenly Seymour from Little Shop of Horrors.
> 
> I'm referencing a video in the +1 portion of this fic:
> 
> www.youtube.com/watch?v=XmjYTQD9ZBY


End file.
